Les “nouveaux” Européens sont-ils si heureux de l’être? Détrompez-vous…

Bloc-Notes

   Forum

Il n'y a pas de commentaires associés a cet article. Vous pouvez réagir.

   Imprimer

 514

Les Britanniques sont délicieux. Le ton moqueur et ricanant du Times dans son article de ce jour sur les malheurs nombreux des pays de l’ancienne Europe de l’Est devenus membres de l’UE semblerait venir d’un adversaire de toujours de cet élargissement (du type “nous vous l’avions bien dit”). Au contraire, les Britanniques en furent les principaux partisans parce que, pensaient-ils, la cohésion des nouveaux membres et leur orientation atlantiste assureraient à la fois le triomphe du marché libre et la défaite d’une Europe politique au profit d’eux-mêmes. L’élargissement devait voir le triomphe de l’ancienne Europe de l’Est et, par conséquent, par ricochet dirait-on, celui de Londres.

On dira : c’est de la bonne tactique britannique, puisque, avec l’élargissement, ils ont cassé l’Europe. Ils l’ont peut-être cassée, mais certes pas à leur avantage, et encore moins à l’avantage de ces nouveaux “alliés” qui devaient assurer leur prépondérance. Il n’y a pas de prépondérance britannique dans les débris européens. La tactique fut brillante, la stratégie est bien incertaine.

Ce que nous décrit le Times est une ancienne Europe de l’Est devenue membre de l’Union européenne, plongée dans le désordre et le désarroi les plus grands. Etrange victoire. L’élargissement a non seulement dégoûté les “vieux” pays européens de l’Europe, il est en train d’en dégoûter les nouveaux.

«A desperate note seemed to enter the voice of Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the Polish Prime Minister, as he tried yesterday to reassure the nation that his crumbling Government could survive the latest candid camera corruption scandal.

“We are convinced that Poland is going in the right direction under our leadership,” he said on television. “We will defend it in parliament and before public opinion.”

»To viewers, however, it was clear that there was no easy way out for Poland. Nor is there an easy escape for their Central European neighbours, who have realised that the sacrifices made to join the European Union have not brought them any closer to paradise.

»Instead, the political class across the region is buckling under pressure and rulers seem to be on the brink of crises that often border on farce.

»The Hungarian Prime Minister, Ferenc Gyurcsány, delivered what he thought would be a blood, sweat and tears speech to his fellow Socialists but ended up under siege from a public that heard only swear words. The Polish Government is being held hostage by a garrulous pig farmer, Andrzej Lepper, who can keep party discipline only by demanding cash deposits from his deputies.

»The Czech Government has been in a state of paralysis since June and its Prime Minister, Mirek Topolanek, has become a figure of fun. His wife discovered that he was having an affair with the deputy speaker of parliament and, out of revenge, has become a leading light in a right-wing grouping in competition with her husband’s party. “How can Topolanek possibly govern a country and deal with the problems of a minority government when he faces the opposition within his own bedroom?” asked Jana Bendova, a political commentator.

»It is a dilemma faced, in a less erotically tantalising way, by others. The right-wing Polish Government, led by Mr Kaczynski’s Law and Justice Party, was supposed to provide shelter for voters scared by the pace of reform. But EU membership demands a rolling process of market reform. Andras Gero, of Budapest Central European University, says: “Government parties cannot go against the will of the EU, but at the same time the opposition portrays EU membership as a huge burden. This leads to disorientation and disillusionment.”

»The result is a spread of weak minority governments and unstable coalitions…»


Mis en ligne 29 septembre 2006 à 05H36